Nice.and clear recording and inspired playing. I am only 3 minutes in and it is a new favorite.

The long short of it is that Pigpen embodied the blues. He could rip it on the harmonica. He could play competent forgettable country blues guitar. On YouTube check his acoustic version of Roberta. I swear his blues phrasing was as good as it gets. Sometimes he was bit too rambunctious live from a recording point of view. Live: it is evident he often lifted the energy more than any other member. I think it is time for a Pig pen- Dave's picks, greatest hits. It is through Pig that i hear Jerry play blues licks. He knew the blues, which is simply fundamental. It is through Pig that we seed another side of GD and what incredibly well rounded musician JG was.

FIERCE

Very good show, likewise recording.

This might be the best version out there, and since VLB is the greatest song the Dead ever did, this is the pinnacle of human existence.

a KILLER Viola Lee Blues to open, the band just tears this song apart. then we get the best, most epic jazz performance of Clementine EVER (well, there's also 1/23/68) and a nice That's It For the Other One suite ta boot, ta boot. even with the Schoolgirl cut off, this is still fantastic...

Cuz, until I finished the concert I hadn't read any of the comments from the up-loader; and I should of, my review has since changed and I had it all lined up in my head- not that anyone really reads these reviews unless its like 10 words or less.
I love Jerry as much as anyone & he was on for this show,just blistering the set; the band sounds like they've really established the reentry on Viola-this one sounds like doomsday crazy; and zowwie wowwie I hear the monster of the seventies ringing through the chaos. The set finishes with a nice back & forth hing with Jerry & Pig to round out a beautiful & emotional set with Good Morning little School Girl (one of my favorite Pig songs & then low and behold: it's from a completely different show-----eeeekkk! Why, you may ask does that bother me? Really, it's just because in past reviews I'd thought Pig gets kinda put on the back-burner; I am by no means a huge Pig fan & before anyone gets like all fired that I say anything harsh about Pig- please, just hear me out!
When it came to the keys I'm a Brent fan anyway; but, Pig was an icon of the original crew- people loved the Pig 'cuz he was the Reverend of Love and Sex- he didn't look it-but he was out front trying to mow some lawn- you know trying to get the vibe out there. Jerry was hitting people with decibels of ear piercing mania- I guess if I ate as much acid as they I'd probably be manic too; but, my point is this: Jerry solo'd 'til he somehow drifted back to the stage from his out of body experience; but Pig, on the other hand git the shaft show after show- was it because he didn't have anything good to say on his organ? Maybe he couldn't solo- I certainly haven't heard anything special; but then again Bob doesn't solo either. Maybe I'm babbling on about nothing; but what about Brent- that guy got solo & he was god, right? Keith too, nothing too special; but, that doesn't seem to matter to Jerry,"Go ahead Keith, take one!" Then he goes tinkle tinkle tinkle & I go "That was pretty nice." But, what about the Pig? If anyone know of any great Pig organ solo's give me the 411-yo! Otherwise, this is a high grade, high quality, serve & smile recording.Ace's High.

Possibly the finest on the archive!!!
enjoy

68-69
Dead were dangerous and truly Garcia’s Gang.
When they played like this with total abandonment and just went ahead.
My first show came 3 years later (4 29 71) but I wish I could have seen them when I was a little younger, Could have made all the difference in the world.
Out there and not coming back.

February 1968 is an outstanding month of shows near the end of the 6-month Anthem of the Sun recordings. The run of 2/2, 2/03, 2/14, and 2/23-2/23 Kings Beach Lake Tahoe (aka, Dick’s Picks Vol. 22) are all outstanding shows in an outstand run of Anthem shows. You can also throw in 1/20/68, and it rivals any run in the history of the Dead.
Start with a prime Viola Lee that ends in a vintage-period feedback. Cryptical/Other One is short, but high-energy, driving psychedelia, but also tight and musical, in the classic Anthem style. Cryptical simmers down not to New Potato, as it usually did in this period, but to the rare Clementine, played on 5 times (according to Deadbase). Jerry soars on guitar after his first verse of vocals. Clementine was inspired by John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things, which also is in 3/4 meter and has a long jam on two chords. Clementine slips easily into Good Morning Schoolgirl. Pigpen is brilliant on harp and delivers spot-on vocals.
Six minutes into Schoolgirl, Pigpen raps “I wanna be your king bee, I wanna find all about your stinger.” King Bee was a slow, sultry blues piece that Dead used to throughout 1966 and revived in ‘69. (Pigpen fans check out 11/19/66.)
There is another show more recently upload to Archive also called “2/2/68.” However, it has a somewhat different set list. There’s a Clementine clearing going into New Potato, not Schoolgirl. It sounds like the same Clementine. Listening to it, it sounds like the Clementine>Potato is an edit with fades, and that real performance was Clementine>Schoolgirl
The other 2/2/68 “show” is good (a 5-star collection), but I like this better. If you want to hear the other, it’s here:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1968-02-02.sbd.jools.20299.sbeok.shnf

The Crystal Ballroom in 1968 must have been like Birdland in 1961. Maybe it's the building, maybe it's the bands that played on the tour. Clementine has got to be the jazziest Dead song ever played and Gold And Silver (performed by Quicksilver Messenger Service and most likely played on this tour) was based on Dave Brubeck's Take Five.
I seem to remember writing a review for this show but just in case I didn't, here's another, better one. If I had to make a list as too what the best of the three Northwest shows I have it would be:
1. This show
2. 1-20-68 at Eureka Muni
3. The show after this one
The reason I say that is because while the other 1-20 and 2-3 are played with great energy and have a dream songlist and you can't beat that awesome fade out at the end of The Eleven, this show is the only one where they play different styles of music. Garage band, psychedlic, jazz, and blues. Each song feels like you're seeing a different band perform. I have to vote this as my all time favorite Grateful Dead show because I have had dreams where I'm at this concert. The beginning of Viola Lee Blues should be listen to with a warning sign for those who do not know what it's like to be blasted off into space. Listen to this show on your iPod and the repetive chord that Garcia plays after the first verse makes you feel like you are floating on air. Before I continue let me just make it clear that I am not one of those people that go around saying if you listen to Stairway To Heaven backwards, you can hear satanic verses. This Viola really is stellar, much better than the 8-4-67 one which is pretty boring to my ears. The Other One suite is the night before Bobby changed the lyrics to what we know them as today. It's a lot shorter than the ones played a couple of years later but the way Garcia joyfully plays that solo after screaming out "You know he had to die" during the reprise, and then the way he's able to lock himself into a new theme is, to me, pure magic. I love the way Phil's bass counts the time to Clementine.
Clementine is the treat on here. I believe only two versions Clementine have been released to the public. One on the remastered version of Aoxomoxoa, and this version, heard on So Many Roads. The lyrics are quite poetic but the music is like cool jazz, not too light but not too heavy either. Just right porridge. The day I fell in love with this song I actually wanted to go out and buy Clementine oranges and listen to this song while eating them.
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl is like being at a Sonny Boy Williamson show in the late 30s. It's the one song on this set to have the most vocals and Pig is satisfying as usual. The end of the song has Phil and Bobby in a little duet before Jerry makes one last little squawk and they call it quits.

Hard to find a bad show in '68, but this one stands out. Heard a lot of Viola's, but this one hard to top. Great all around show & Pig delivers on 'Schoolgirl.

Clementine is amazing...very eerie and chilling, something about the lyrics that create a story of hope/helplessness that only could be captured by the work of Robert Hunter and The Grateful Dead
They turned an old folk song into a deep powerful song that makes you feel...damn this is the stuff that blows my mind
WOW this is the best sounding stuff :)

nuf said

...Wow! ....other reviews are much more insightful and articulate than whatever I can possibly write so I'm just gonna leave it with.. Wow! Thank You everybody involved in keeping the music alive --- AshesRising

WHOLLY SHIT
VIOLA LEE BLUES IS THE TRUTH.

Did anyone else catch the "You Don't Love Me" riff in "Schoolgirl"? Check out 8/1/66 for a fullblown Schoolgirl>You Don't Love Me>Schoolgirl, which I believe is the earliest example of the Dead segueing between songs available on the archive.

If you truly know the Dead then you know the significance of this show. They are on the doorstep of greatness. The musical diversity between Viola and Clementine is almost too much to take. You can tell Feb was going to be a great month. Maybe Bear made an extra special batch.

Viola lee blues put the grateful dead on the map and it's fun to think that a dark band who obviously had a higher belief were helped out by a man named Noah to start it all.
As in Lewis.

I am really starting to get into '68. I have always been into '72-74'. But I really love hearing how the songs evolve and whatnot. Then again isn't this one of the things that we love about this band? The fact that if you get burnt out one era there is always another to explore. I just have to say this Viola Lee is off the shelf. There is this jam at about 8 mins that just sounds like its either going to fall apart or explode. Then back into the verse. It is just so tight.The rest of it is one nice long segue, very beautiful, very powereful stuff. Anyway, solid download.

I'm going thru all the shows start to finish on the archive, and read Phil's book, and am halfway thru LST.
SO far,i think 1967 shows the biggest growth. Check 12/10/66 on the archive then compare it to 11/10/67. SHocking and Stunning.
Peace

1968 is maybe the year where the Dead's evolution and maturity from the beginning to the end of the year is the most apparent. Listen to these Jan-Feb shows, and then go listen to October 68 at the Matrix and you'll see what I mean. Their playing and confidence in exploring new jams is much more developed by Oct, or even the great August shows.
However, I'm partial to the sound of these early shows, as I've had the tapes for a long time. And now with these new LAMA versions, I can finally get the right dates, plus missing songs all straightened out.
There's not much I can add to the wonderful comments below about Viola Lee. It's everything they say, and more. Maybe the hottest version these ears have heard. The Other One is short but powerful, and Clementine long and jammy. And then they take it home with a smoking version of Schoolgirl. Pigpen is batting 100, in the driver's seat all the way.
Great sound, and a solid show that leaves you wanting more! Along with 2/14 of course, this show has to be one of my top shows for early 1968.
enjoy, and crank up that Viola Lee!
Dr. Flashback :-)

I WROTE A LETTER,I MAILED IT IN THE AIR AND IT SAID THIS SHOW KICKS ASS. Just perfect and full of pure intensity from begening to end!!

Damn dude, I've never heard Viola Lee this wild before. My head pretty much exploded as they reached the climax towards the end! For such a short version, they sure pumped a lot of energy into it!
And the other tracks are just as powerful. I mean, if these shows were good enough to be included on Anthem of the Sun, you know they're good. It's actually kinda cool to hear this music in its true form...unlike the swirly, turning, churning vortex of Anthem. Anyone who's into primal dead will LOVE this!

I read the review with the pitch question, so I streamed The Other One and strummed along on the guitar. Its pretty darn close to perfect.
Sound levels are powerful. This show flat out rocks!

While it doesn't have the "occassion" of the Haight Street version, this Viola Lee is the best ever captured on tape. Thanks to this site, I was able to get the King's Beach Bowl rounding out my collection of every single VLB played, and still this version is tops.
I figure they had to go the feedback route after VLB because there is no way those guitars are in tune after such complete and utter shred meltdown!
Really, the whole show is a gem and is the only "complete" show on my new mp3 player (yeah, I know it's heresy to make mp3 copies of the Dead, but I've got 5 gigs of kick ass music to listen to anywhere I feel like it....)
Show A+
Sound B+ (out of pitch, anyone?)

Because the web page grabbed onto some process my PC was running, I could not remove a duplicate entry, so I'll give my thoughts after relistening. Cryptical is more interstellar than i could ever hope for...listen for Bobby's funky timing on "Coming around", and the very era-specific lyrics. Cool trick: during the wildest parts, become completely still and focused, and make sense of what appears to be utter chaos.

Half way through (in fact 11:01 second) into the Viola Lee and my brain was dripping from the headliner in my car. Truly mind blowing.

Wow...This one is truly a mind blowing experience. The boys are right there at the cliff's edge with one foot in the air just waiting for the call to jump. When they do, well, someone must have forgotten to pay the gravity bill...they soar. It's really that ferocious. Now, if I could just get Hal to open the pod bay door...

Both 2/2/68 and 2/3/68 were originally aired by Gans on The Grateful Dead Hour shortly after they made their way to the surface. Both of these shows are primal Dead at it's very best. The sound quality is a little muddier than the 1/20, 1/22 and 2/14 shows. But in my humble opinion (hardly) this only adds to the value of these jamming tapes. For my money, EVERYTHING from 68 is great. One gets the combination of songs in their infancy as well as Jerry wailing on either his Les Paul or his Gibson SG. What a tone, ladies and gentlemen. If you want early primal Dead fully rounding the corner out of early 60's twang guitar and into full blown psychedalia ALL of these shows are for you. I know of what I speak. Enjoy!

I played this tape out twice....quality both times was rough but wow this sounds great...thank a bunch.....open up the old noggin and just let it simmer!!!!!

Go buy yourself a solid helmet and a pair of sturdy gloves before you try out the Viola Lee here, for it is truly beyond. Get ready for big-time jamming. It is a joke. Throw 1973 and 1977 out the window- this different. Major power abounds here. Baten down the hatches and enjoy this almost absurd, lenghty Viola. Beware..
>>WANTS TO BE PLAYED LOUDLY

This show and the following date (2/3/68) lay in my favorates for early Dead. Crystal Ballroom is a GREAT venue. Old theater, huge spring loaded ballroom, and a wonderful vibe. I can only imagine what is was like when the Quicksilver & Dead played. Anyhoo, the show is an amazing look into the band when psychedelicia took over, yet not the DS>SS>11>LL yet. Trust me, if you like it trippy, this is for sure one to get!! Sadly no QMS shows exist from this famous tour, one has to wonder given the amazing performaces GD did, what did QMS to "counter-attack" Oh well.. just download and watch the walls bubble and enjoy. Highly recommended!